Biden picked McDonough as a result of he felt he was crisis-tested and is aware of the right way to pull the levers of presidency, in keeping with
Biden picked McDonough as a result of he felt he was crisis-tested and is aware of the right way to pull the levers of presidency, in keeping with a supply near the transition. Biden was additionally impressed by McDonough frequently visiting Walter Reed Nationwide Army Medical Heart and making a degree of visiting troops within the discipline whereas he was deputy nationwide safety adviser underneath Obama.
“After I acquired the decision from President-elect Biden, I assured him that I’ll signify the voices of all veterans at each stage, on each situation, each day,” McDonough wrote on Twitter following the announcement. “Those that have served this nation, their caregivers and survivors ought to count on nothing much less.”
However Biden’s choice to not faucet a veteran for the job shocked veterans service organizations and leaders who anticipated the president-elect to proceed a convention of getting a conflict veteran lead the VA. McDonough was a longtime Capitol Hill staffer earlier than he joined the Obama marketing campaign in 2008, and he then served in varied overseas coverage roles within the White Home earlier than turning into chief of workers.
“It’s a surprisingly out of contact choose … they might have chosen somebody who’s been a affected person there or has any direct expertise with that group,” stated Paul Rieckhoff, founding father of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. “The concept Biden couldn’t discover a certified candidate among the many greater than three million veterans feels exceptionally patronizing.”
“We’ve got loads of veterans who nonetheless have bother trusting the VA,” stated Joe Chenelly, nationwide govt director of AMVETS. “I’m undecided that having somebody on the helm who’s not a veteran goes to be useful within the close to time period.”
Chenelly additionally famous concern that McDonough doesn’t seem to have “a lot expertise with the intricacies of the VA.”
“Though the VA central workplace and the White Home are simply throughout the road from one another, it’s an enormous distance on the subject of data of what’s occurring on the bottom,” he stated.
Some veterans service and labor organizations stated they’d not been consulted with in regards to the choice upfront, a disappointment after 4 years throughout which they felt frozen out by the Trump administration. Whereas indirectly criticizing McDonough, one particular person concerned with an out of doors group stated the method that led to his nomination “was left wanting” given the shortage of communication.
LGBTQ and minority veterans had additionally been organizing assist behind Murphy, an Iraq Battle veteran who launched and championed the push to repeal the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Inform” coverage whereas in Congress in 2010.
“We’re simply now crossing the 10-year anniversary of the repeal … and so loads of these service members who had been capable of serve brazenly, and have been serving brazenly since then, are actually themselves turning into veterans and searching for providers from the Veterans Administration,” stated Zeke Stokes, a former chief packages officer with GLAAD who this week organized a letter to the transition in assist of Murphy, which was signed by greater than 150 LGBTQ and minority veteran leaders.
“Understanding that there’s somebody there who has been within the struggle with them as a veteran, and somebody who’s a demonstrated LGBTQ ally, I feel is one thing they’re searching for,” Stokes stated.
David Shulkin, who served as underneath secretary of Veterans Affairs for well being throughout the latter a part of the Obama administration after which grew to become secretary underneath Trump, stated McDonough is “going to have an enormous studying curve on particular points on the subject of the VA” if he’s confirmed.
“However he is aware of how the cope with the complexity of Washington and the right way to get issues achieved and that’s a superb signal for the VA,” Shulkin stated.
McDonough didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
As head of the company, McDonough will probably be tasked with implementing one long-term, large-scale venture excessive stakes: overhauling the VA’s medical information system to a brand new, private-sector system designed by Kansas Metropolis-based Cerner. The alternative system would mesh with the one Cerner is constructing for the Protection Division and in addition join with non-public sector well being suppliers’ digital well being information.
Initiated by Trump White Home adviser Jared Kushner, and budgeted for $16 billion over 10 years, the venture is broadly anticipated to take longer and price extra to implement. Whether or not or not it’s going to obtain its acknowledged objective — ensuring service members’ medical information comply with them from enlistment, post-discharge, and thru the sprawling Veterans Affairs’ system — stays to be seen. The Cerner VA system has already taken its first child steps, rolling out its information in Spokane, Wash., after a number of delays.
Since leaving the White Home, McDonough has been educating lessons on the Keough College of International Affairs on the College of Notre Dame. He has additionally been overseeing the varsity’s Presidential Transition Index that’s monitoring the Biden transition.
One former Obama administration official who served with McDonough stated it “speaks very extremely of him that he is prepared to enter that paperwork — some would possibly say morass.”
“Lots of people do actually good work there, however you must reduce by layers of crimson tape and disappointment,” the particular person stated. “McDonough is like an ascetic — a holy man in that he’s virtually a glutton for punishment.”
Alice Miranda Ollstein and Darius Tahir contributed to this report.